Pagina's

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Welcome to Twig and Tale blog tour

You know I love blog tours. Today, I am participating again in one.
This is not any blog tour though, it is a blog tour that I actually
organized! I picked and contacted most of the 25 bloggers, and I
was super excited that almost all of my picks wanted and could make time
for the "Welcome to Twig + Tale" blog tour. Twig + Tale (formerly
known as BigLittle), recently changed her name, and we would like the
world to know. We therefore picked a very international selection of
bloggers. All these bloggers sewed at least one lovely Twig + Tale
garment. As cherry on the pie, Art Gallery Fabrics was willing to sponsor the tour! We
could all pick any fabric from the Art Gallery website. Of
course, there is also a give away. At the end of this post you can enter
a Rafflecopter with the chance to win two yards of Art Gallery fabrics
and five Twig + Tale patterns.

At the beginning of the
year, I sewed all my kids some outwear from Twig + Tale. With the season
change now upon us, most of those now need a warmer replacement. I
picked a lovely combination of Line drawings in canvas for the outside of the coat and Moon stories spark
for the lining. To make the coat really winter proof, I added an extra
layer (from thick fleece) between the main and lining, this way she will
stay warm for sure.

I used the updated Pixie Pea coat
pattern for my coat. The updated version now contains two different
hoods and a collar. I had seen several coat in the Twig + Tale Facebook group, combining hood and collar, and I wanted the same. I really love the
look. When the hood is down, the collar is a great eye catcher. When the
hood is up, the collar almost disappears and does not bother the wearer
at all. If anything, it is an extra protection against the wind. To protect some more, I also added ribbing to the sleeves. The pattern is intended to have extra long sleeves. By folding them, your kids can use the coat one year longer. I loved the idea, and placed the ribbing such that I kept the extra length fold.

I
of course, had to play with the pattern a bit. I added a zipper and an
alternative kind of pocket. Another blogger on the tour added a zipper
through a slightly different method, and wrote a tutorial about it.
Seeing this
will be a mid-winter coat, I wanted the front flap as extra protection. I
therefore added one part of the zipper in the seam between the front
flap
and right front. The easiest way to sew in the other half is like
another blogger on the tour did. She widened the left front piece a bit,
such that the other half of the zipper could be sewn between lining and
main fabric. I took a small detour by adding an extra piece of fabric to
the left side (that is what you get if you start cutting without a
clear plan in mind). I wanted the flap to stay closed, so I added snaps
next
to the zipper, but still hidden by the flap.

The inspiration for the pocket came from
a retail bought coat from my husband. It is a double function pocket.
You can either but something in the pocket from the top, or you can use
the (open) side. This combination is really perfect for both storing gloves (or stones and twigs if you are my daughter),
and just keeping your hands warm in your pockets. I had been
planning to write a small tutorial, but I was not satisfied with the
method I had chosen. The corners are so thick, that I had to hand sew
them to coat. There was no way my machine would do it, I broke a needle
trying, which of course did not stop me from trying some more. I like the
concept so much though, I will add these to more coats to come. I will
keep you posted.

Art Gallery Fabrics is kindly sponsoring 2 yards of Art Gallery fabric of your choice. To make the prize extra sweet, we are also adding a collection of 5 Twig + Tale patterns of your choice.
International entries are very welcome. Our bloggers come from every corner of the world to celebrate the global nature of Twig +Tale too.

Enter using the rafflecopter below. (The winning entry will be checked to ensure all criteria are met).

My daughter could not wait to wear it. In the end I decided to put the pockets on after I closed the coat, that way she could wear it one day earlier, because she had already announced at school we was bringing it the next day :)

About me

I am a Dutch mother of four (three girls and one boy) and an academic. I love to create and use this blog to share my creations with the world. I knit, crochet, sew, bake etc. and many of those skills I learned from bloggers around the globe. I hope you like reading about my creative adventures and that they may inspire you.